Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Strawberry Fields Forever

I was in up to my elbows in dirty dishwaterwhen I saw the Hermanator streak past thekitchen window with flames on his heels.I quickly stepped over to see what had himrunning so fast, only to find him being cheeredon by handsome Farmer Husband and the rest ofthe gang. They had found a shady spot undera tree and were just enjoying each others'company and the challenges that daddy wasdishing out. My first thought was to slip outand join them, but a counter full of dirtydishes was still calling my name. I wentback to the sink and plunged another potinto the suds when a basket of freshstrawberries sitting nearby caught my eye.I thought that it would be fun to bringthem out for everyone...but then I wouldnever get these bloomin' dishes done! Idecided I'd finish the dishes first andthen, if everyone was still there, I'dtake them out when I was done...Whaaaat?!? Are you kidding me? Hopingthat 4 little people under the age of6 will sit peacefully in the shadefor more than 10 minutes? Not going tohappen. I also knew they were callingfor a lot of gray, rainy weather thisweek and this might be the last niceday. That's all it took for me towhip off those nasty rubber gloves,run the berries under cold water andcarry that colander of sweet goodnessbarefoot across the lawn to the crew.And am I ever glad I did!

Strawberry, my love?

Here Dad, have some more!

Berry delicious :)

Yup, it doesn't get any betterthan this!

On a side note,Gracie Jo got her first pair of Chucks.A hand-me-down from an amazingly sweet cousin,it was love at first site.Determined to wear them anywhere and everywhereshe finally learned to tie her own laces!

The expression on her face says it all.Thank you so much, Nicole.xo

I sure am glad I chose to spend thattime with the family (and, note toself: The dishes still got done. Imaginethat!) It's hard finding a balance betweenwork and play sometimes, but I'm trying reallyhard to create moments where relationshiphappens and weave them into our everyday.I want to instill in our children the valueof hard work and a job well-done, and atthe same time show them the importance ofmaking time for family and for fun.Today, I'm so glad I chose strawberriesover suds. Seeing the sweet, jewel-colouredjuice running down the kids faces andfingers, watching them tearing across thelawn and all of us laughing togetheras Jude fed Peter berry after sweet berrywill forever be captured in my memories.I love these sweet, summer days!

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with thegood things of your house, of your holy temple.~Psalm 65:4~

4 comments:

Thank you, dear sister! Glad to hear that the dishes didn't win :) I believe that in your struggle to teach them balanced values that your beautiful kidlets will struggle to maintain the balance too! The struggle is what keeps the pendulum from swinging too far in one direction or the other, I think. Love you all! May you have many more such days, regardless of the weather.

Isn't it funny how when we look back we are glad we choose the fun over the work. At the moment it is such a hard choice, I struggle too with those times. To build a castle out of a box or clean those bathrooms... today the castle won and the bathrooms were next in line.